Acts 15:16 says that the tabernacle of David will be restored so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord. It does not say ‘so the Lord may seek His people’. It is so that mankind may seek the Lord. There is something about the tabernacle of David that will allow or cause men to seek the Lord. This verse speaks of evangelism, but not necessarily the ‘walk up and preach to them’ type of evangelism. It is the Holy Spirit that will dwell in the music, in the praises in the tabernacle of David that will draw men to Him.
What took place in the tabernacle of David? There was round-the-clock praise, prophetic song and worship in the tabernacle of David that lasted 33 years. Do you suppose it was coincidence that Jesus lived 33 years? 33 is the number of promise. How do we know that there was prophetic music in the tabernacle? If you read the book of Psalms, you will find prophecy in it. You will find Jesus foretold.
1 Chronicles 16:4
4 And he appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to commemorate, to thank, and to praise the LORD God of Israel:
(NKJ)
The word ‘commemorate’ in the Hebrew is to ‘record’. Why would David appoint recorders? Because the songs were going to be new songs. The recorder literally followed the musician (for the most part it was David that made it into the book of Psalms) and when a new song came forth, the recorder would write it down. David would then give instruction regarding the instruments to be used. In some cases we find that even the type or style of music to be played was given in the instructions.
Why would David give instruction regarding the specific instruments and the type of music used to interpret the song?
Today’s businessman understands about light, color and sound, and the effects that they can have on a person. Color (light) and sound (light) are elements used to induce you to buy. Have you ever been into a store and seen all the bright colors and hear the music playing in the background? If you begin to take notice as you enter establishments, you will find that each has an ‘atmosphere’.
Some shops, such as clothing stores that sell leather goods, will attempt to convince you that leather equals luxury. You will notice warm tones or colors in the décor of the leather shop. You will probably hear soothing music in the background. This combination of warm tones and soothing music speaks of luxury. Luxury makes us feel good, doesn’t it? This translates to ‘buy leather and surround yourself with luxury’. It will make you ‘feel good’.
If the shop owner wants to target a specific age bracket, they may choose familiar music to convince young adults for instance, that leather and their lifestyle go together (still keeping the warm tones in the colors and décor). Just imagine for a moment that you are in a shop that sells leather coats. The entire store is set in blues and cool tones. These cool tones induce a feeling of coldness. This feeling of coldness goes against the idea that a coat is to keep you warm. Probably not a good choice of color, because a person buys a coat to keep warm.
Consider places like some of the big electronics stores that sell home theatre systems, stereos and expensive gadgets to enhance our homes. You are barraged with bright colors and pulsating music. This makes you feel excited. ‘Wow!" is the feeling when you first enter the store. Making a large financial purchase such as a home theatre system is not a small thing. It involves credit for most people and who really wants another bill? If you stay in the ‘wow!’ environment for awhile, the color and sound will gradually induce a confused state in your mind.
You’re trying to make a decision and all this ‘stuff’ is entering your eye gate, ear gate and your mind gate. If the sales person knows their job and the payment seems low, you’ll probably go ahead and buy. If instead, you choose to leave the store and go to a quiet place to think it over, you may not be so quick to take on another debt.
All of this has relevance to the tabernacle of David and why certain instruments and music styles were picked for each song. When God said "let there be light", He also created sound at the same time. Light and sound are the same substance on different frequencies. Scientists can tell you about light waves. These are basically magnetic waves at high frequency. If you increase the frequency of light it soon ceases to be visible. This is because God designed our eyes to pick up only a certain spectrum of light. We do not see all light that exists.
If you slow light down, you will find that you no longer can see it. As it gets slower and slower, it enters the spectrum of radio and television transmissions. Slow the waves even more, and they enter our audio range. Waves can be slow enough that we no longer can hear them. Just because we don’t hear them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. All sound is not limited to our hearing range. Animals can hear sounds that we can’t.
The point here is that sound and light have the same properties. The only difference is that of the frequency of the waves.
What does this have to do with the tabernacle of David? Music is basically sound consisting of mathematical patterns. We don’t have to look far to realize that God is a mathematical genius. He uses numbers throughout creation and in His Word. He is the author of music.
The word of God says that God is light. It also says that God is love. It says that God is Spirit. We see that God can be many things or that He has many attributes. Music is an expression of God. Satan also expresses himself with music, being the imitator he is.
The interesting thing about instrumental music is that you cannot intercept it with your mind. It has no words. When you hear music, you can do nothing with it except hear it. Music can and will induce feelings in people.
Have you ever found that the sound of violins can induce tears when you are watching a movie? You’ll do just fine in the sad part, until the violins come in. Then, your eyes begin to leak!
Do you know that rock music can elevate your blood pressure? Music does have an effect on us and we can’t stop it. In order to block out ideas and feelings, we need to have words before we can process what we hear and either mentally embrace or discard it. This may seem a little vague, but we think with words and without words you can’t think. Hence, instrumental music bypasses the mind and goes straight to the spirit.
God created music and He knows very well what it does and what it is for. Consider this, those of you that are musicians: when you play your instrument in praise and worship to God, it has an effect on Him!
Think about a movie you have seen, or imagine a scene in a movie. Let’s pick an obvious example. In this scene, we see an army on horseback charging into battle. What sort of music would be playing in the background? It would be powerful with drums and horns and excitement and clamor. The music fits the scene.
It would cause you to expect something to happen. It would induce an excitement into your spirit. What if the producer decided to use a soft lullaby as background music? Probably, you’d feel this was totally out of place. It would usually induce the wrong feeling for the scene.
However, it depends on what message the producer is trying to send in the scene. If the producer is trying to take you to a place of delirium or a dream like state, it might be appropriate. Perhaps a character in the movie has been wounded. The lullaby type of music would remove you from the scene, or it would place the ‘sight’ portion in the background. Then perhaps you might hear a narrative of the character remembering someone at home as he dies.
Music sets the tone for the scene and plays an integral part in the overall message being portrayed. Take the music out of a movie, and you will notice the difference.
God knows this power in the music, because after all, He created it. In the book of Psalms, the Word of God is coming forth. The music played should enhance the ‘tone’ or message given in the Word of God.
The music does its job of inducing feelings. Another way to explain this is that music prepares the heart for the Word. There are several types of music in scripture and we will delve into this in a later chapter. Take note, though, at this point that movie producers understand this concept that God set in place. So do merchants. It is used to full advantage in movies and in advertising.
Satan also has knowledge of this. He uses warfare music to drive home his lies, his message of destruction. He knows the power in music. When people say that rock music is of the devil, they are partly correct. Used in conjunction with the evil intent of his words and spirit, it is evil.
The same warfare sound used in conjunction with the Word of God and a clean spirit is scriptural. This will be clearly shown in a subsequent chapter.
Point to remember: Because satan uses something, doesn’t mean we can’t. Should we cease to pray and talk to God because pagans pray and talk to their gods? Warfare music is scriptural and satan has perverted it. This does not negate us from using it in its pure form.